Seventeen-year-old Tiarra Brown was focused on her future, but the excitement about graduation turned to fear when police came to her school and arrested her. 11 News reporter Barry Simms has the story.

Worried about their daughter, Catia and Elvin Brown said they did everything they could to get her released.

A warrant charged Tiarra Brown with attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment. She was held without bail after police arrested her Thursday during graduation practice at Casa Academy in Southwest Baltimore.

"That's not her profile. She's an honor roll student. She has scholarships going to college June 21. She did track and field. She worked all year to pay for her graduation, and she missed graduation for a misunderstanding," the girl's mother said.

The warrant was issued in connection with the May 6 stabbing of a woman outside the Half Mile Track nightclub on Frederick Avenue near Collins Avenue. It happened around 1:30 a.m.

According to a statement of charges, what appears to be the victim's daughter filled out a complaint and submitted it to a commissioner at the Patapsco Avenue Courthouse claiming that Brown stabbed her mother six times and threatened her as well.

The commissioner issued a warrant for her arrest, but to add to the confusion police said they had already charged a woman named Brittany Johnson with the stabbing when Brown was arrested at her high school during graduation practice.

"It was negligence on their side, and I think it's disgraceful to just pick a person out and charge them without investigating," Catia Brown said. "She's always in the house. She's too young to go to a club. She's never been to a club a day in her life."

Police and prosecutors now said the warrant was wrongfully issued by a court commissioner and that Tiarra Brown committed no crime.

Once they said they realized what happened, the investigating detective and the detective from the Warrant Apprehension Task Force went to the state's attorney seeking Brown's release.

She was released around 6 p.m. Monday into the custody of her elated parents (image of release to the right).

"This is the longest I've ever been away from (my parents)," the girl told 11 News after she was released. "I was real upset, but I prayed to God and read my Bible and knew the best thing for me was just to come home."

When she finally emerged from detention, Brown was so grateful to see her parents, she didn't express any bitterness about her ordeal, 11 News reporter Kerry Cavanaugh said.

"The officers were very nice. They checked on me and made sure I was eating and drinking and not so depressed and crying too much," Tiarra Brown said.

11 News went to the home of the person who filed the handwritten complaint that led to the warrant. No one answered.

The family said police showed the stabbing victim and two witnesses Tiarra Brown's picture, and all of them said she was not involved.

Legal analyst weighs in on issue

Once police and prosecutors finally realized the warrant was wrongly issued Brown had already spent the weekend in jail unable to attend her graduation.

"How does something like this happen? One, it happens far too often and it happens because the commissioner is allowed to issue a warrant based on a written complaint by an individual," said defense attorney Warren Brown, who, as a legal expert, told 11 News that Tiarra Brown's case highlights a huge flaw in the system.

According to the district court of Maryland, any civilian can go to a court commissioner, file a complaint on another person and -- without an investigation -- the commissioner can issue an arrest warrant.

"There ought to be some investigation before an individual is arrested and charged with an offense, especially an offense that carries life imprisonment, which this offense carries," Warren Brown said.

And as far as why Tiarra Brown spent so much time in jail? Attorney Brown said it's because of a rubber stamping of no bail that starts with the commissioner and trickles down to the judge as they assume, he said, that you are guilty.

"And so now this person is being held for God knows how long, on no bail because a commissioner issued a warrant based on a civilian's allegation, which was never investigated. It is absurd," Warren Brown said.